Ash tray with cigarette extinguisher and ash removing grating

ABSTRACT

An ash receiver is disclosed which contains a rotatable snubber assembly, a rotatable grate assembly, a lever assembly coupling the snubber and grate assemblies and a receptacle for housing the snubber, grate and lever assemblies.

United States Patent References Cited [72] Inventor Mario Artelli mm 5aw m 3 mm 1 M 3 S n H T m m N m S m E H" u M mm mm p m S u u E m mmm m mN r V. e m mmm m SmflacE m PNMMRF E O P 9784 4 N4346 6 UNNWN m 4 W W U 11 264 0 l 3920 0 3 5337 3 0053 8 D223 .m m mmm im. I A ,R 2 mmu i 4 Lwmn syil oa wm CBM mm SCW. 8 mc inn-H. 19 s a n 3 9 m mAn u 8th 0-1 8 8UCHG7MF o d N m L n Wem Ha AFP UM 224 Iii.

R Primary Examiner.loseph S. Reich Att0rneyRoger A. Clapp [54] ASH TRAYWITH CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHE AND ASH REMOVING GRATING 7 Claims, 12 DrawingFigs.

receptacle for housing the snubber, grate and lever assemblies.

[50] FieldofSearch........................................... 131/231,237; 131/235, 240, 242

"PATENIEDFEB sum 3,661,452

" sumifibfz INVENTOR.

Y MARIO ARTELLI 47/174 mu W FIGQB.

FIG. 7

PATENTEDFEB 9 I971 sum 2 or 2 INVENTOR.

ash receiver which can easily be cleaned both inside and out.

AS TRAY WITH CIGARETTE EXTINGUlSl-IER AND V ASH REMOVING GRATINGBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention pertains to receptacles forreceiving debris and relates in particular to those which arecommonly.used to receive the byproducts of tobacco usage; viz., ash receivers.

While ash receivers of all sorts are known, each generally exhibits somedisadvantage. For example, ofttimes a cigarette or cigar snubbed in anash receiver will not go out entirely. In-

stead, itmerely smolders, much to the annoyance and discomfort of nearbypersons. a

Accordingly, it is broadly an object of this invention to improve ashreceivers, and it is a particular object of this invention to reducediscomfort to persons nearby the ash receiver, and avoid any occasionaldanger of flame. I

Specifically, another object of this invention is to provide an personsnearby is reduced and cleaning is simplified by the combination of asnubber assembly which includes a block having; a number of snubbingholes for positively, spontaneously and immediately extinguishing buttsand which is rotatable to dump extinguished butts, a grate assemblywhich has spaces large enough to pass ash and other debris frompartially consumed tobacco products and the like but not large enough topass a cigarette or butt; and a lever assembly which joins the snubberassembly and the grate assembly so that when one assembly is dumped, theother will automatically dump also.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ashreceiver constructed in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the ash receiver shown in FIG. 1. r i

' FIG. 3 is an end elevation view of the ash receiver shown in FlG.l.,,v i

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the ash receiver shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a partial bottom plan view of the ash receiver shown in FIG.1.

FIG. 6 is a partialsection view of the ash receiver shown in FIG. 1taken along the line 6-6 shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is an end elevation view of a snubber assembly.

FIG. 8 is a side elevation view of the snubber assembly in FIG. 7 andhas portions broken away to show interior details.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a grate assembly.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the interior of the ash receiver takenalong the line 10-10 in FIG. 11 and illustrates a lever assembly whichjoins the snubber assembly and the grate assembly.

FIG. 11 is a partial top elevation view of the ash receiver shown inFIG. 1 with parts broken away to illustrate the lever assembly.

FIG. 12 is a partial schematic view of the ash receiver shown in FIG. 1and is taken in elevation to show the interaction between the snubberassembly and the grate assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Turning now to a detaileddescription of the invention and its cooperating parts. an ashreceiveris shown in FIG. 1. The ash receiver 20 comprises a receptacle 21, asnubber assembly 30, a grate assembly 40 and, as best seen in FIG. 10, a

. lever assembly 50.

The receptacle 21 has four sides, 22a, 22b, 22c and 22d, which arejoined to form a box open at the top and bottom. The bottom of the boxis closed .by :a cleanout plate 23 while the top is partially closed byan extension of the side 22c. As shown in FIGS. 2 and ,10, the plate 23is joined at one end to the receptacle 21 by a pivot pin 24 and at theother by a clip 25 Both the sides 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d and the plate 23must be made on a nonflammable material and aluminum is particularlyconvenient As to the pivot pin 24 and the clip 25 both are convenientlymade of brass. Finally, the side 22a includes located in the snubberblock 31 with one end rigidly engaging the snubber block 31 and theother end rotatably engaging the receptacle 21. The handle assembly 32includes a knurled knob 35 and a shaft 36 joined to the knob 35 at oneend and to the snubber block 31 at the other. For convenience, the knob35 is rotatably joined to the end of the shaft 36. As can be seen fromFIGS. 1,2, 3, 4 and 6, theknob 35 extends outwardly from the snubberblock 3l and the slots 26a and 26b restrain the extremity of movement ofthe shaft 36. as it swings during operation. Finally, the snubbing portsor holes 34 are holes drilled part way through the snubber block 31. Thediameter of each hole 34 is slightly larger than a cigarette and eachhole 34 is countersunk with a tapered hole. As best seen in FIG. 4, thediameter of the tapered holes is chosen so that the lip of each holewill be almost, if not exactly, tangent to the lip of its neighbors. Asa consequence, when butts are snubbed, they 'will automatically beguided into one of the holes 34.

The grate assembly 40 fills the remaining open portion in the top of thereceptacle 21. As best seen in FIGS. 9, 10, 11 and 12, it comprises aframe 41, a plurality of bars 42, and a pair of pivot pins .43. Theframe 41 is conveniently an open rectangle made of aluminum and includestwo flanges 44 for accepting the pivot pins 43. The bars 42 are alsoconveniently made of aluminum andextend in parallel relationship to eachother across the opening in the frame 41 to form a grating. The pivotpins 43 are conveniently made of brass, and are joined rigidly at oneend to the flanges 44 as by a threaded end which screws into the flanges44. The other end of each pivot pin 43 is rotatably joined to thereceptacle 21.

The lever assembly 50, as best seen in FIGS. 10 and 11, comprises a pairof crank members 51, a connecting bar 52 and a pair of coupling pins 53for joining the ends of the connectingbar 52 to the crank members 51. Inthe embodiment disclosed, the crank members 51 are conveniently made ofaluminum and are bolted to the pivot pins 33 and 43. As best seen inFIG. 10, the ends of adjacent pivot pins 33 and 43 are threaded. Thecrank members 51 are'each perforated with a hole (not shown) which islarge enough to accept the end of the threaded end of a pivot pin 33 or43. As can be seen in FIGS. 10 and 11, when the crank members 51 aremounted on the pivot pins 33 and 43, they are held rigidly in place bynuts so that each pivot pin and crank member combination turns as aunit. As also seen in FIGS. 10 and l I, the connector bar- 52, which isconveniently made of aluminum, is joined to the ends of the crankmembers 51 by the coupling pins 53. The coupling pins 53 areconveniently made of brass and, for simplicity-of assembly, are threadedat one end. Also, the connecting bar 52 has two tapped holes (not shown)to accept the .ends of the coupling pins 53. As shown in FIG. 11, aspacer 56 abutting the crank member 51 spaces the connecting bar 52 awayfrom the other components of the lever assembly 50.

DESCRlPTlON OF OPERATION The snubber assembly 30 is designed to snub outbutts in a manner which prevents smoldering while the grate assemblyserves as an ash remover. Clearly, however, when both assemblies arefull of debris, they must be dumped. Dumping is best understood byreference to FIG. 12. As shown in FIG. 12, the handle assembly 32 movesthrough 'a semicircle in a dumping operation; that is, the shaft 36moves from slot 26a to 26b as it carries the snubber assembly 30 throughthe positions shown. At each position, the snubber assembly 30 is movedcloser to the final dump position. As can be seen from F 16S. and 11,the movement of the snubber assembly 30 is automatically imparted to thegrate assembly 40 through the lever assembly 50. The four positions ofthe grate assembly 40 shown in FIG. -12 correspond to those shown forthe snubber assembly 30. Thus, by simply rotating the handle assembly 32until the shaft 36 moves from the slot 26a to the slot 26b, both thesnubber and the grate assemblies are easily and simply cleaned. Whetheror not automatic return is available is not part of the presentinvention. The angular displacement of the snubber assembly 30 and thegrate assembly 40, however, are not equal as shown in FIG. 12.Accordingly, various modes, including placing of weights or the like,could be used by one skilled in the art to achieve automatic return.

In summary, an ash receiver has been disclosed which reduces discomfortto nearby persons from smoldering butts and which is easily and simplycleaned. While only one embodiment of this invention has been disclosed,it will be recognized that the embodiment is only illustrative of theprincipals of the invention and many others will occur to others skilledin the art which will fall within the scope of the invention.

1. In an ash receiver, the combination comprising:

a receptacle for collecting ashes and other debris, said receptaclehaving an opening at one end;

a grate assembly located in one portion of said opening, said grateassembly including an open frame, a plurality of regularly spaced barsspanning the opening in said frame and joined in parallel relation tosaid frame by their ends to form a grating, and first pivot meansrotatably joining said open frame to said receptacle;

a snubber assembly located in another portion of said opening, saidsnubber assembly including a snubber block, there being a plurality ofholes disposed adjacent to each other in said snubber block, secondpivot means rotatably joining said snubber block to said receptacle andhandle means for rotating said snubber-block around said second pivotmeans to a dumping'position, said holes extending only part way throughsaid snubber block; and a lever assembly for rotating said open framearound said first pivot means to a dumping position in response torotation of said snubber block around said second pivot means to adumping position wherebyashes and other debris retained by said gratingwill automatically be dumped into said receptacle when said snubberblock is dumped. 2. An ash receiver in accordance with claim 1 whereinthe surface of said snubber assembly includes means providing aplurality of tapered openings in register with said holes, said jectingout of opposite sides of said open frame to rotatably attach said openframe to the walls of said receptacle; said second pivot means includestwo centrally located pivot pins projecting out of opposite sides ofsaid snubber block and rotatably attached to the walls of saidreceptacle; and said lever assembly includes two crank members rigidlyattached to adjacent pivot pins and a lever bar interconnecting saidcrank members whereby rotation of one of said adjacent pivot pinsrotates the other automatically. I

4. An ash receptacle m accor ance with claim 1 wherein said handle meansincludes a knurled knob and a shaft for attaching said knurled knob tosaid snubber block.

5. An ash receiver in accordance with claim 1 wherein said receptacleincludes a slot for accommodating said handle means when said snubberblock is in the rest position and another slot for accommodating saidhandle means when said snubber block is in the dump position.

6. An ash receiver in accordance with claim 1 wherein said receptacleincludes a cleanout plate rotatably attached to said receptacle oppositesaid snubber block and frame.

7. An ash receiver in accordance with claim 1 wherein said leverassembly includes a crank member attached to said snubber assembly, acrank member attached to said grate assembly and a bar interconnectingsaid two crank members whereby operation of one of said assemblies willautomatically operate the other.

1. In an ash receiver, the combination comprising: a receptacle forcollecting ashes and other debris, said receptacle having an opening atone end; a grate assembly located in one portion of said opening, saidgrate assembly including an open frame, a plurality of regularly spacedbars spanning the opening in said frame and joined in parallel relationto said frame by their ends to form a grating, and first pivot meansrotatably joining said open frame to said receptacle; a snubber assemblylocated in another portion of said opening, said snubber assemblyincluding a snubber block, there being a plurality of holes disposedadjacent to each other in said snubber block, second pivot meansrotatably joining said snubber block to said receptacle and handle meansfor rotating said snubber block around said second pivot means to adumping position, said holes extending only part way through saidsnubber block; and a lever assembly for rotating said open frame aroundsaid first pivot means to a dumping position in response to rotation ofsaid snubber block around said second pivot means to a dumping positionwhereby ashes and other debris retained by said grating willautomatically be dumped into said receptacle when said snubber block isdumped.
 2. An ash receiver in accordance with claim 1 wherein thesurface of said snubber assembly includes means providing a plurality ofTapered openings in register with said holes, said tapered openingsbeing disposed in tangential relationship to each other whereby a buttsnubbed in said snubber assembly will automatically be guided into oneof said holes.
 3. An ash receiver in accordance with claim 1 whereinsaid first pivot means includes two centrally located pivot pinsprojecting out of opposite sides of said open frame to rotatably attachsaid open frame to the walls of said receptacle; said second pivot meansincludes two centrally located pivot pins projecting out of oppositesides of said snubber block and rotatably attached to the walls of saidreceptacle; and said lever assembly includes two crank members rigidlyattached to adjacent pivot pins and a lever bar interconnecting saidcrank members whereby rotation of one of said adjacent pivot pinsrotates the other automatically.
 4. An ash receptacle in accordance withclaim 1 wherein said handle means includes a knurled knob and a shaftfor attaching said knurled knob to said snubber block.
 5. An ashreceiver in accordance with claim 1 wherein said receptacle includes aslot for accommodating said handle means when said snubber block is inthe rest position and another slot for accommodating said handle meanswhen said snubber block is in the dump position.
 6. An ash receiver inaccordance with claim 1 wherein said receptacle includes a cleanoutplate rotatably attached to said receptacle opposite said snubber blockand frame.
 7. An ash receiver in accordance with claim 1 wherein saidlever assembly includes a crank member attached to said snubberassembly, a crank member attached to said grate assembly and a barinterconnecting said two crank members whereby operation of one of saidassemblies will automatically operate the other.